President of S. Korea, Moon Jae-in, suggesting Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, to call off the trade restraint. (Image via: The Strait Times)

Japan Trade Restrictions on Us Will Only Hurt Itself: S. Korea

Currently, it seems like trade war happens not only between the U.S and China. It is also happening between Japan and South Korea (S. Korea). Beginning on 1 July, Japan has been restricting high-tech material export to South Korea. Hence, the two allies of the U.S. are currently at each other’s throat right now.

Many Korean people are in an uproar due to what Japan did and they started boycotting Japanese products from their country. Some Korean supermarket chairpersons even supported the action and demanded the Japanese to apologize for their restraint. Even further, S. Korean people had signed a petition to ban travel to Japan and to be absent in the 2020 Japan Summer Olympics.

The global tech communities are afraid that if the tension between S. Korea and Japan escalates, the development of the 5G networks may as well be disrupted. S. Korea had been importing integral materials for photoresists, semiconductors, and display screens for their smartphones.

It all actually started from S. Korea who accused Japan of exploiting the labor force in World War II-era and called Japan “irresponsible” and “unrepentant” for what it did, while Japan stated that it had made amend to all its heinous deeds through 1965 accord between Japan and S. Korea. However, S. Korea did not accept it that way. Furthermore, in October 2018, S. Korea’s court charged Nippon Steel with $89,000 fine and seized their shares. Hence, Japan saw red and activated its trump card on 1 July.

President of S. Korea, Moon Jae-in, said that Japan should just call off its trade restraint on S. Korea because it would only hurt Japan more than S. Korea. Furthermore, Moon pointed out that the Japanese only used its advantage to punish S. Korea for accusing Japan of its blatant wartime crime.

S. Korea stated that it remains steady should Japan keeps the restraint. Moon even said that that would be a chance for Korea to grow independent.

Japan, on the other hand, threatened to exclude S. Korea from receiving preferential trade treatment. The Japanese questioned S. Korea export controls of arms and dual-use items. They even accused S. Korea might have been cooperating with N. Korea, calling their commitment “weak”. S. Korea denied those claims.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/politics/S-Korean-leader-says-Tokyo's-trade-curbs-will-hurt-Japan-more